We are working on our front entry. The house was built in 1913 and the front door and sidelights are protected by an open sided porch. We have stripped all the old paint - no lead miraculously, someone must've done that in the 60's. My question is for the areas where the wood trim meets the brick of the house. There was a sort of window-glaze-like putty there and we dug that all out and it cleaned up very well. What is that stuff? Do I need to replace it, or is exterior caulk sufficient?

Thanks,
Kathy

 

That's a good question. I know the stuff you're talking about and it does remind me of window glazing. The amazing thing about it is that it's still soft and pliable (sticky!) even after 40+ years. (I most often run into it on houses that were built or that got new windows back in the 60's.) There's probably some bad nasty chemical in it that makes it stay pliable. In that case, I'll be dead soon.

Sometimes you're just scraping off the excess, and the edge of the trim is still sealed with the stuff. I usually scrape it off with a scraper and if there are gaps, I'll recaulk the entire window or door using either a latex or urethane caulking.

 

It is probably old butyl caulking and yes any cracks should be caulked, acrylic latex will be fine.

 

Great! Thanks very much. I'm going to use a clear latex caulk in its place.

Kathy